Members of Vancouver start-up Strutta flew down for the Twiistup 4 event in Los Angeles last Friday. Twiistup's premise is similar to Vancouver's Launch Party: throw a big party and let local tech companies show off their apps. From the pictures, it's clear LA is able to throw a party like only LA can, with a red carpet, retro-gaming machines, and Scoble reporting. The Struttians were dressed in white, not for a wedding (yet), but to promote and solicit launch partners for a white-label version of their video competition site. This trip into the heart of the SoCal tech scene, along with Jevon Macdonald's "How Startups Will Save Venture Capital in Canada" post, inspired Danny Robinson to write a lengthy post entitled "Venture Capital is Broken, Let's Fix It". He echos what Jevon says about the traditional VC model being broken, and the need for smaller amounts of financing to earlier stage companies. Danny outlines the Bootup Labs strategy:

Break the catch 22

Create a facility that allows ideas to be tested and formed into fundable companies. - DONE

Raise money from angels, institutions and governments who benefit from such a facility. (Share in the risk.) - IN PROCESS

Start the perpetual motion machine

Assist first time founders with business model formulation, and basic business operation skills. - IN PROCESS

Test idea in the marketplace. Get customers. Prove it.

Introduce the company to the investor community for larger growth financing.

Distribute excess proceeds to shareholders.

repeat

Danny forwarded this post to a list of influential Vancouver entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. Might be interesting to see where the post comments go. Danny, Jevon, I think you've both got the right idea. Old models are broken, change must be embraced. This country is full of talented young people with good ideas that could be fleshed out for even a five figure investment. Let's channel the enthusiasm in action. Supply the money and business guidance, and great things can happen, for cheap. Photo by Mike Macadaan, Twiistup - CC 2.0, By-NC-SA

Strutta's industry leading technology connects brands with their target consumers through powerful social promotions. Its do-it-yourself tools allow agencies, brands and developers to easily create and manage interactive contests and sweepstakes.
Strutta has powered award-winning promotions for top international agencies, Fortune 500 companies and small businesses. Clients include Microsoft,...
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Bootup Labs is a seed accelerator in Vancouver, BC that helps founders and companies go "from concept to company." Bootup Labs recruits promising entrepreneurs and provides mentorship, ongoing support and office space to help define their business and, if required, secure venture financing. Companies receive $150k in financing. Focus exclusively on Internet based businesses including casual...
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Greg Andrews

Greg Andrews is a Writer and Web Developer and for Techvibes. Born and raised in Edmonton, Greg was blogging about his high school drama long before it was fashionable. In the Spring of 2007, half a year out of school, Greg moved to Vancouver in search of interesting technology and the Canadian dream. His personal sites are gregcorp.com and miscellani.ca.
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